Action Research- is a disciplined process of inquiry conducted by and for those taking the action.

Involves the application of the steps of the scientific method to the classroom
problems. Action research is similar in some respects to regular educational research
however it differs principally in the extent to which findings can be generalized beyond
the local school situation.

The Action Research Process

Educational action research can be engaged in by a group of colleagues who share an interest in a
common problem. Whatever the scenario, action research always involves the same seven-step process.
These seven steps, which become an endless cycle for inquiring, are the following:

Selecting a focus
Clarifying theories
Identifying research questions
Collecting data
Analyzing data
Reporting results
Taking informed action

Step 1—Selecting a Focus

The action research process begins with serious reflection directed toward identifying a topic or topics
worthy of a busy student’s time. Thus, selecting a focus, the first step in the process, is vitally important.
Selecting a focus begins with the teacher researcher or the team of action researchers asking:

What element(s) of our practice or what aspect of student learning do we wish to investigate?

Step 2—Clarifying Theories

The second step involves identifying the values, beliefs, and theoretical perspectives the researchers
hold relating to their focus. For example, if students are concerned about increasing responsible
classroom behavior, it will be helpful for them to begin by clarifying which approaches—using
punishments and rewards, allowing students to experience the natural consequences of their behaviors,
or some other strategy—they feel will work best in helping students acquire responsible classroom
behavior habits.

Step 3—Identifying Research Questions

Once a focus area has been selected and the researcher's perspectives and beliefs about that focus have
been clarified, the next step is to generate a set of personally meaningful research questions to guide
the inquiry.

Step 4—Collecting Data

Professional educators always want their instructional decisions to be based on the best possible data.
Action researchers can accomplish this by making sure that the data used to justify their actions are
valid and reliable. To ensure reasonable validity and reliability, action researchers should avoid relying
on any single source of data. Most researchers use a process called triangulation to enhance the validity
and reliability of their findings. Basically, triangulation means using multiple independent sources of
data to answer one's questions.

Triangulation is like studying an object located inside a box by viewing it through various windows cut
into the sides of the box. Observing a phenomenon through multiple “windows” can help a single
researcher compare and contrast what is being seen through a variety of lenses.

Step 5—Analyzing Data

Although data analysis often brings to mind the use of complex statistical calculations, this is rarely the
case for the action researcher. A number of relatively user-friendly procedures can help a practitioner
identify the trends and patterns in action research data. During this portion of the seven-step process,
researchers will methodically sort, sift, rank, and examine their data to answer two generic questions:

1. What is the story told by these data?

2. Why did the story play itself out this way?

Step 6—Reporting Results

The reporting of action research most often occurs in informal settings that are far less intimidating than
the venues where scholarly research has traditionally been shared.

Step 7—Taking Informed Action

Taking informed action, or “action planning,” the last step in the action research process, action
researchers find that the research process liberates them from continuously repeating their past
mistakes. More important, with each refinement of practice, action researchers gain valid and reliable
data on their developing virtuosity.

Three Purposes for Action Research

These three different approaches to organizing for research serve three compatible, yet distinct,
purposes:

1. Building the reflective practitioner- When individual make a personal commitment to

systematically collect data on their work, they are embarking on a process that will foster
continuous growth and development. When each lesson is looked on as an empirical
investigation into factors affecting teaching and learning and when reflections on the findings
from each day's work inform the next day's instruction.
2. Making progress on school wide priorities-Making Progress on School wide Priorities
Increasingly, schools are focusing on strengthening themselves and their programs through the
development of common focuses and a strong sense of esprit de corps.
3. Building professional cultures- share a commitment to student development, yet the group finds
itself unable to adopt a single common focus for action research. A single research focus can still
use action research as a tool to help transform them into a learning organization.

Why Action Research Now?

Action research reasons, with none more important than the need to accomplish the following:
Professionalize
Enhance the motivation and efficacy of a weary students and faculty.
Meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body.
Achieve success with “standards-based” reforms.
Professionalizing Teaching

Prepared by: Melanie P. Cortez

SHS Teacher II

References: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/100047/chapters/What-Is-Action-Research
%C2%A2.aspx
Guiding School Improvement with Action Research
By:Richard Sagor
Fundamental of Research
By: Aquino